East vs West

Picasso Versus Chinese
2015 年 7 月 30 日
East – West Colorature
2015 年 7 月 30 日

East vs West

08_狂慾無慾東與西;East vs West;121.9x91.4cmEast vs West

#95007     121.9 X 91.4 cm     a/c

  • Picasso: “Reclining Nude” (1932)
  • Chinese images of some diets, colored woodcut

While publishing “Picasso, the Genius” in Chinese, T. F. Chen painted a series of “Post-Picasso” in 1995. Here is one of the series.A sharp contrast of youth and the aged, of vitality and rigidity, of vigor and rigor, pleasure and religious, of an aspect of the West versus the East.On the lower part, Picasso’s “Reclining Nude” bursts like a flower in her deep sleep after a sexual consummation. Her full breasts, heavy, pliant limbs and supple buttocks are organic and erotic through Picasso’s exaggerated rendering; a sort of Persephone figure recumbent on a sofa-bed, out of her loins serge flowers and foliage, symbolizing growth, energy and fertility. Indeed, she was Picasso’s mistress, model and muse, Marie-Theres Walter whom Picasso had met in 1927, when he was 45 and she, 17. Chen employed the imagery here as a Western symbol to contrast an aspect of Eastern (Chinese at least) culture which is stiffen, frigid, stoic and doctrinal, represented here by some “diet” images from Chinese folk art.The impact of the Western power on China after the Opium War awoke the Middle Empire from its 5000-year old dream as the center of the world. Science and democracy became the mottoes of the then young intellectuals who proclaimed information in political, social and cultural domains.Confucianism and other classical traditions were under attacks and many codes and taboos were abandoned. In 1912, China became a republic, yet fell into conflicts and divisions even till today. In China as well as in many other parts of Asia, sex and woman are either taboo or depressed through history.The introduction of model-painting to China in the 1930s even caused scandals and oppositions from the society when Picasso painted this sexual imagery in 1932. It won’t be surprising if we understand that the Western art started with Greek nake goddesses, while Chinese (and mostly Oriental) painting was derived from calligraphy.

 

by T. F. Chen